


your soul will be okay

by CherriesAndRaindrops



Series: the grass grows, we take it, we want it [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Near Death Experiences, Nonbinary Character, Out of Body Experiences, Post-War, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29254140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherriesAndRaindrops/pseuds/CherriesAndRaindrops
Summary: Every once in a while, Sage sat down with himself.
Relationships: Sage & Joanne (OC), Sage & Valerie (OC)
Series: the grass grows, we take it, we want it [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110386
Kudos: 1





	your soul will be okay

**Author's Note:**

> title inspiration: soaked by adam lambert.
> 
> sorry if this seems kinda rushed, i have a lot on my plate right now writing-wise, and i wanted to wrap this up quick. also sage uses he/they pronouns and joanne uses she/they pronouns so yeah.

Although it took them a long time to realize it, Sage had always been a natural entertainer.

Watching him sing and dance on stage was nothing short of a spectacle. When he walked into a room, everyone’s eyes darted towards him, as if he was magnetic.

Everyone wanted a show, and they sure as hell were gonna give them one.

—

“Thank you! Thank you!” They grinned at the massive, loud crowd in front of them. “You’ve been an amazing crowd!”

The crowd was roaring, the crowd was booming, the crowd was occasionally even a bit overwhelming, but, besides a good bottle of wine, it was the only thing that gave them a rush anymore.

He waved at the audience one last time as he walked backstage, letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of their best friend, Valerie.

“Oh my gods...” they groaned, practically collapsing into her arms.

“You did great out there!” She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around them.

“Thank you.” They smiled, giving her a gentle squeeze. Her high-pitched, cheerful, sweet voice was always so refreshing to hear.

“Oh, and by the way,” She called, just as they began walking to their dressing room. “Ezra wants to meet with you sometime tonight!”

They huffed. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind!” He responded, trying to mask the annoyance he was feeling.

“Okay!”

Valerie waved to him with a joyful look on her face. He waved back before finally making it to his dressing room.

He swung the door shut, and rested his head in his hands, groaning.

Despite having no more affiliations with the government, he was still a trusted confidant of all three gods. He was honored to be so close to the most powerful figures in the forest, and yet so distressed by it. They just never left him alone.

They trudged the mirror, staring at themself with a critical eye. They saw that everyone saw under the flashy pale blue crop top and matching bell bottoms. They knew that under all that, was a lonely, tired, depressed excuse of a person.

They gently took out their ponytail and let their wavy black hair run free down their shoulders. They walked to the fridge and rummaged through it until they found a bottle of red wine. At last, they plopped down on their chair next to their tiny table and took a large, long swig.

Every once in a while, he sat down with himself. He sat down and thought about how low he had sunk. 120 years ago, he was a respected messenger boy and the servant of the vivacious goddess of animals, and now he was dancing on stage in sparkly outfits like a fool because it was one of the only things that made him feel free.

All he ever wanted to feel was free.

—

_X foundthemself dashing to General Fredrick’s headquarters, puddles of dirt and mud splashing under their boots as the shouts and screams of soldiers who had witnessed the deepest horrors of this damning earth._

_They took a deep breath as they approached the trenches surrounded by blood, smoke, and their fallen acquaintances. Just beyond them was nothing but trees gorgeous dark green leafs that outlined a clear dirt trail, which would eventually lead them to the general’s hideout._

_All they had to do was run behind the trenches, and they’d be safe._

_Suddenly, a gunshot blasted through the air, and they were sent tumbling down the hill they had been speeding down, pain running through their entire body like it was the plague._

_They landed back first in a large puddle of mud with a loud splash. An collage of shouts and cries rang out, getting seemingly louder and more distorted as the soldier boys - the one made with the lone purpose of fighting until they died in this horrid war - crowded around them._

_“Are you alright?!” One of them shouted, grabbing their shoulders._

_They groaned, looking down at their dirty, tired, shattered self._

_Blood was oozing out of their white uniform and mingling with the pale brown slush they were lying in._

_They wanted to scream, but nothing could come out of their mouth._

_“We’re gonna get you a doctor, okay? Just hang in there.”_

_X tried to, but the waves of unconsciousness kept washing over them, no matter how hard they fought to stay awake. They didn’t want to die like this, they wanted to die a hero, or at their own hands, they weren’t ready to go yet._

_But their vision got blurrier and blurrier, and the voices of the soldiers all mixed together, and they found it better to slip into the realm of sleep._

_“X?! X!”_

_They groaned at the harsh pounding in their head, and let themself drift away._

_—_

_X sprung up out of their deep sleep at around nighttime._

_With a few glances around the room they awoken in, they could infer that they were in the medical quarter, and General Fredrick was having a conversation with one of the doctors just outside the door._

_“...they’ll be okay overall, with a few minor injuries here and there.”_

_“Like what?”_

_“We haven’t quite figured out yet. Maybe they’ll have to walk with a cane for the next few or so days.”_

_“But they can’t deliver messages with a screwed up leg!”_

_“I’m sure you’ll find someone else willing to take on that task.”_

_X sighed. Being alone with a bad leg was the last thing they needed right now, they didn’t need to feel more devoid of a purpose._

_They slowly turned around, and felt their blood run cold at what was behind them._

_It was themself, but they were lying on the bed, still unconscious._

_They yelped, jumping back. They shortly became extremely confused. They were dead, right? That was the only possible explanation for their current state. They were dead and they were a ghost._

_All of a sudden, the room got very windy, as if someone had opened a window. But yet, all of the windows in the room remained perfectly shut._

_And they were whisked away. Whisked off their place on the bed and out of the room from the ceiling. Whisked into the night sky, screaming bloody murder._

_They landed among the millions of stars._

_Gazed and terrified, they slowly pulled themself together, and stood up. They looked at the ground hundreds and hundreds of feet down below them._

_Was this the afterlife?_

_“Sage!”_

_The familiar voice sent shivers down their spine, and they felt overjoyed as they swung around to see the owner!_

_“Joanne!”_

_They dashed into their goddess’ arms, feeling like they could burst into tears as they felt the familiar soft fabric of their white shirt._

_They could stay like this forever, curled up tight into Joanne’s arms. They hadn’t felt this warm, both on the inside and outside, for so long._

_Finally, they broke the embrace._

_“You look great!” X beamed._

_Joanne chuckled. “Thanks!”_

_“I have so much to tell you about!” They exclaimed, pacing around joyously. “All the battles I’ve seen, all the people I’ve helped, all the adventures I’ve gone on... you’re gonna love it!”_

_“I don’t think we have time for all that.” She smiled sadly._

_X’s face fell. “What... what do you mean?” They asked._

_“You have to go back home.” Joanne answered, pointed down at the barely visibly medical station. “Down there.”_

_“What?!” The messengerboy cried, clinging onto their shirt. “But I don’t wanna lose you again!”_

_They didn’t want to go back and continue suffering through war, they wanted to rest in peace with Joanne among the stars for all of eternity. Why couldn’t they have that?_

_“Because I was doomed from the start.” The god explained. “But you... you still have a destiny! A chance at life! Why don’t you want that?”_

_X looked back down at the forest below them, then back at the spirit they once served, that they loved, and pulled her in for one final embrace._

_She wrapped her arms around them, holding them tight against her body. “I love you, X.”_

_Then, she let go, and down X fell._

_They fell hundreds of feet down back into the medical quarters screaming out for Joanne as their god watched helplessly._

_And then X sprung up, back in their bed._

_...what had just happened? Was it all just a dream? A second chance at life? An out of body experience?_

_“You’re awake!”_

_They looked over to see a medic approach them, a friendly expression on their face. “How do you feel, X?”_

_They felt... different. Very different. As if they weren’t even in their own body. It was a very strange feeling. Their brief period of unconsciousness must’ve awaken something in them. It almost felt like they were on another plane of living._

_One thing was for sure: They didn’t want to be called X anymore._

_“My name’s Sage, actually.”_

_“Oh, my apologies. How do you feel, Sage?”_

_—_

“Oh, Sage!” Valerie called, swinging open the door to his dressing room. “I just wanted to-“

Sage looked up at her, their wavy black hair scattered across their face and back and their brown eyes wet with tears.

“...Sage?” The redheaded girl asked, concern clear in her face.

He broke down on the floor in tears.

“Oh, lovely...” She cooed pitifully, plopping down next to him and wrapping him up in her arms. “I know, I know...”

Sage had known from the moment they had started preforming that they were merely a fraud, that their confident, glamorous persona was just a coverup from the broken, tragic, traumatized shell of a person they were.

But everyone wanted a show, and they sure as hell were gonna give them one.


End file.
